Do we take the award for the prettiest roadsides this week?

Looking along Tikorangi Road

I was mooching around down at our corner yesterday afternoon. It being Sunday, there was little traffic but there are plenty of magnolias in bloom. With the large white michelias alongside, scent lies heavy in the air. Most of the roadside plantings are seedlings from Mark’s breeding programmes. He is always looking for space to site good plants and all our boundaries are ringed with flowering trees. Every year, the display gets more spectacular.

You will just have to imagine the fragrance from all that bloom

Generally speaking, people talk to us about our boundaries full of flower and scent because they really like them. Indeed we often hear vehicles slowing down to get a better view at this time of year.

So I admit I am still scarred by the local resident who accused us last year of causing a traffic hazard with our overgrowth and ‘debris’. In terms of insults, this just might go down in our history as the worst ever levelled at us. I get that some folk will drive past without even noticing. Indeed, yesterday as I was on the road with my camera, a truck driver stopped to ask me if I was photographing the undermining of the corner by the recent flood. It has still not been repaired nine weeks on but we don’t mind because it means the heavy traffic is a lot slower and more careful when it comes to turning that corner. He looked a little surprised when I said no, I was photographing our trees.

But to want to see this planting removed as an alleged traffic hazard? That I find simply beyond comprehension. Goodness, even our little herd of beef cattle show more appreciation of our planting efforts than that local farmer. Maybe in time, I will get over the shock of his comments.

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7 thoughts on “Do we take the award for the prettiest roadsides this week?”

Please don’t be upset by the insensitive farmers’ comments about distracting roadside magnolias… I’ve just driven home from Auckland in this wet, miserable weather, and the only thing that I thoroughly enjoyed was looking out for magnolias in bloom, and to see if the gardeners had planted them with something dark in the background to show them off in all their glory.
From a spectators point of view, magnolias’ are like manna from heaven at this time of year, and I thank all of you who grow these beauties.

Oh thank you! I don’t take his comments too seriously – it was just a deeply unpleasant episode which I admit has coloured my attitude to some. But his loss that he is incapable of seeing the beauty that lifts the hearts of other folk. Mark and I play “name the magnolia” whenever we drive anywhere at this time of year. ☺

You can never please everyone and there will be plenty of others like me who take such joy in looking for the stunning flowering magnolias at this time of year. I would love it if our neighbours planted magnolias on their boundries, but they would struggle with Canterbury’s drought like conditions at times. As an aside, if you had to choose one magnolia for its scent, what would it be?

I’d pick a michelia for scent alone – Fairy Mag White or Cream. Many of the deciduous magnolias have scent, but it is never blow you away – smell it from 20 metres away strong and it just seems an irrelevance when standing looking at a huge tree smothered in bloom.

What a nice scene to look at. It’s very appealing and the trees make the road more beautiful. Yes i believe you could take the award for having the prettiest roadsides. Looking forward to drive by to that exact location & see those beautiful trees personally.